Bowling shoes are often provided with different shoe soles for varying traction of the shoe sole on a surface of a bowling lane. In specific bowling lane conditions, the stopping and the sliding characteristics of a shoe can greatly enhance an ability of a bowler to stop his feet suddenly and abruptly. For example, when the bowler approaches a foul line to throw a ball, one foot usually performs the slide action and the other foot performs the traction action. A slide shoe for the slide action usually has a sole made with a low friction material, and a traction shoe has a sole with a high friction material for better traction. However, a specific design of the bowling shoe will greatly depend on each bowler's individual style and preference, on bowling surface conditions, and on whether the bowler is right- or left-handed.
One of the problems associated with conventional bowling shoes having fixed shoe soles is that a bowler must purchase many pairs of bowling shoes to adjust to various bowling surface conditions. Additionally, the ball and heel portions of the shoe often become worn out due to increased stress exerted on these portions, thus rendering the whole shoe unusable to the bowler. Furthermore, the shoes are usually designed to fit either a left-handed or right-handed bowler, but not both. Thus, although there is a relatively small number of left-handed bowlers, manufacturers must maintain a sufficient inventory for both left- and right-handed bowlers, which leads to an increased cost of the bowling shoes.
To solve these problems, the bowling shoes are often provided with removable pads attached to the underside of the shoe sole to allow the bowler to adjust the friction of the shoe. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,453 to Kim, U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,324 to Tsuji, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,198 to Famolare describe bowling shoes with interchangeable foreparts and interchangeable heels on the same shoe, but not on either shoe. For such shoes, inventory must include a set of replaceable parts specifically adapted for attachment to the right shoe and a set of replaceable parts adapted for attachment to the left shoe. Also, different sets of replaceable parts must be provided based on whether the shoes are designed for use by right- or left-handed bowlers.
Other known bowling shoes include the shoes that have interchangeable inserts that may be attached to either a left or right shoe outsole. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,077, issued to Coles, discloses a shoe which has removable cleats or inserts attached to a plurality of spaced recesses in the shoe sole. The user may selectively replace individual inserts that have different coefficients of friction to achieve desired degrees of traction on the bowling surface. U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,476 to Lind, U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,360 to Lind, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,973 to Lind all appear to relate to a pad that is interchangeable with another pad, where each pad is removably attached to either the left or right shoe. In addition, each pad is different than the next pad. However, the pads or inserts provided in the above-cited patents seem to be limited to a section of the overall bottom surface of the shoe, as opposed to covering the entire bottom surface. This limited size relative to the overall bottom surface may be important in permitting the pad to be attached to either the left or right shoe. Additionally, when the pads or inserts cover only a portion of the overall bottom surface of the shoe sole, the peripheral shoe sole material makes contact with the bowling surface, which negatively affects the movement of the bowler.